How To Clean Your Clothes While Helping The Planet
photo credit: Adam UXB Smith
Whilst many of us can try to drive less, or turn off the tap while brishing our teeth, washing our clothes is something that we simply haver to do in this day and age. There aren’t many jobs that you could go to with dirty clothes, and not many people (myself included) who would wear them.
So if cleaning your clothes is essential, what can we do to lessen our impact on the planet while doing it? Fortunately, there are quite a few options available to us…
Wash Rather Than Dry Clean
Even with the latest “green” dry cleaning techniques, the process of dry cleaning not only uses all sorts of unpleasant chemicals but it also does a far worse job of actually cleaning your clothes than washing.
So when buying clothes, check the label to try and ensure all new clothes you buy can be machine washed. In this way you’ll save the planet and you’ll make it cheaper and easier to clean your clothes.
When looking at a care label in an item of clothing you will typically find a “wash tub” image and a “circle” image. The first represents washing, while the second represents dry cleaning. So you want to make sure that the tub *doesn’t* have a cross through it. The circle may or may not be crossed but this doesn’t matter so long as it is machine washable.
As an example, look at the following care label. Notice it is machine washable at 40′C but the cross through the circle tells us that it isn’t dry cleanable.
Use An Energy-Efficient Washing Machine
If you’re looking for a new washing machine, try to find an energy efficient version which will do just as good a job but without using as much energy as an older machine. Many stores now offer this advice if you look for it and some manufacturers include stickers to illustrate how green their machines are.
Use Ecoballs Instead Of Washing Powder Or Liquid
Washing chemicals such as powders, liquids and gels can all cause problems to the environment. Hopefully our sewerage plants manage to successfully remove them but there is still a chance of some of these chemicals leaching into our water. Here they can cause real problems for the animals and plants that live there.
Ecoballs are a new(ish) way to clean your clothes whereby you include these cleaning balls in your wash instead of chemicals. They last for hundreds of washes so you’re also using less packaging.
Buy Good Quality Clothes
Good quality clothes have a number of virtues. Firstly they are less likely to have been made in a sweat shop than budget clothes. Secondly they are more likely to keep their colour and they’re more likely to have a longer life. And the longer your clothes last, the less you need to purchase.
Turn Down The Washing Temperature
This is the classic tip. Typically most of us wash our clothes at a higher temperature than in needed. Try turning your machine down to the next notch and see how you get on. I think you’ll be perfectly happy with your wash, while managing to save energy at the same time.
Dry Clothes Naturally
Unless absolutely necessary, try to dry your clothes naturally outside of worst case scenario on a drying horse in a utility room or spare bedroom. Try not to use a tumb;e dryer if you can avoid it due to the unnecessary use of energy that this takes (and the risk of shrinking your more sensitive garments!).
Related Eco Friendly Articles:
- 10 Ways To Make Your Bathroom Greener
- 5 Ways To Use Your Garden For Recycling
- 7 Ways To Make Your Office More Green
Other Eco Friendly Articles We Recommend:
- Hot Water Doesn’t Get your Clothes Clean (savvybrown)
- How To Clear Bed Bugs Out Of Your Clothes (Carbonfeet)
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